In many Western societies, there is a concern about the tendency of young people not choosing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and occupations. In response, different initiatives have been launched. If one believes that science should have a place in more young people's lives, an important question is to what extent recruitment campaigns communicate messages that open up for STEM education to become relevant in young people's identity formation. Here, we analyse a Swedish government-initiated, primarily Internet-based recruitment attempt (‘The Broad Line Campaign’) aimed at increasing the number of young people choosing the natural science programme in upper secondary school. The campaign is based on marketing principles and deliberately draws on identity issues. The data analysed consists of campaign films and written resources describing the campaign. Data are analysed by use of the constant comparative approach in order to produce categories describing different messages about why to engage in STEM education. These messages are then analysed from an identity perspective using the concept of subjective values. Our results show that the messages communicated in the Broad Line campaign emphasise utility value, attainment value and relative cost rather than interest-enjoyment. The campaign communicates that the natural science programme is to be associated with a high attainment value without establishing relations to the field of science. Finally, potential consequences of the communicated messages in the campaign are discussed in light of previous research.

Many different actors, including government, academy and industry, are engaged in school- and recruitment-STEM-initiatives. The aim is to shed light on industrial initiatives, what actors are involved and what different repertoires are being used when motivating engagement in STEM-initiatives. The data collected consists of web-materials where industrial actors describe their engagement in STEM-initiatives and provide reasons for their engagement. The method for analysis is discursive psychology. The results show that a variety of constellations of industrial actors are engaged in STEM-initiatives and that the initiatives draw on a variety of discursive resources. In our analysis we identify the following interpretative repertoires: 1) The securing competent labor repertoire, 2) The developing specific job skills or competences repertoire, 3) The bright future repertoire, and 4) The general increase interest in science repertoire. The results of this study may contribute to the self-reflection of industrial actors on how the choice of resources and repertoires may afford and constrain possibilities for breaking the cultural patterns of selection to STEM education.

Young people's interest in pursuing science and science-intense educations has been expressed as a concern in relation to societal, economic and democratic development by various stakeholders (governments, industry and university). From the perspective of the scientific communities, the issues at stake do not necessarily correspond to the overall societal aims. Rather, initiatives to recruit young people to science are also ways for the scientific community to engage in the social and cultural reproduction of itself. For a community to survive and produce a future, it needs to secure regeneration of itself in succeeding generations. The aim of this study is to, from a perspective of social and cultural production/reproduction, shed light on an initiative from the scientific community to recruit young people to science education. This is a case study of one recruitment campaign called the Chemistry Advent calendar. The calendar consists of 25 webcasted films, produced and published by the science/technology faculty at a university. The analysed data consist of the films and additional published material relating to the campaign such as working reports and articles published about the campaign. The analysis focussed on what messages are communicated to potential newcomers. The messages were categorised by means of a framework of subjective values. The results are discussed both from a perspective of how the messages mirror traditions and habits of the scientific community, and in relation to research on students' educational choices.

Many different actors, including government, academy and industry, are engaged in school- and recruitment-STEM-initiatives. The aim of this study is to shed light on industrial initiatives, what actors are involved and what different repertoires are being used when motivating engagement in STEM-initiatives. The data analysed consist web-material where industrial actors describe their engagement in STEM-initiatives and reasons for their engagement. The method for analysis is discursive psychology. The results show a variety of constellations of industrial actors and that the initiatives draw on a variety of discursive resources. In our analysis we identify the following interpretative repertoires: 1) The securing competent labour repertoire, 2) The developing specific job skills or competences repertoire, 3) The bright future repertoire, and 4) The general increase interest in science repertoire. The results are discussed in a perspective of previous research on cultural selection mechanism and students educational choices.

Relevance’ is one of the most commonly used terms when it comes to reforms in science education. The term is used in manifold ways. It can be understood – among other things – as meeting an interest, fulfilling needs or contributing to intellectual development. Many components of relevant science education go beyond single contents and concepts; many challenges are tied to cross-curricular goals. Specifically, when it comes to the societal and vocational relevance of science education, many demands can only be met when we develop corresponding skills across disciplines and grade levels. This chapter focuses on a set of such cross-curricular goals from a chemistry education perspective, namely, education for sustainability, critical media literacy, innovation competence, vocational orientation and employability. It relates them to the idea of relevant chemistry and science education. Directions for research and curriculum development will be suggested that emerge from taking into account

This chapter takes as its starting point discussions about the concept of indoctrination in the philosophy of education and provides an overview of the use of the concept in relation to science education. The chapter then focuses on indoctrination through the hidden curriculum. Messages about the nature of science communicated in the classroom, which are not in line with the formal curriculum, are part of this hidden curriculum. It is suggested that widespread views about science (e.g. associating science with positivistic, scientistic, atheistic and modernistic views) could be viewed as a result of an indoctrination of students. Since these views are not necessary for science, science becomes distorted for students. Thus, indoctrination could have unfortunate consequences for students’ possibilities of identifying with science and therefore, for the possibility to achieve a desirable pluralism in science.

20.

Hansson, Lena

Kristianstad University, School of Education and Environment, Avdelningen för Naturvetenskap. Kristianstad University, Research environment Learning in Science and Mathematics (LISMA).

That nature and the universe are ordered, uniform, and comprehensible is a starting point in science. However, such worldview presuppositions are often taken for granted, rather than explicitly mentioned, in science and in science class. This article takes a worldview perspective and reports from interviews (N = 26) with upper secondary students on how they view order, uniformity, and comprehensibility. In the article, it is shown that while most students view the universe as ordered and comprehensible, it is common for students to disagree that the universe is uniform. That is, they view scientific laws as only locally valid. In addition, many of them do not know that science builds upon such worldview presuppositions. In some cases, the results show differences between students’ own views and the views they associate with science. For example, it is common for students to state that science views the universe as more comprehensible than they themselves do. The consequences for students’ interests as well as their learning of science are discussed.

In research focusing science education in western countries, worldview perspectives have been rather neglected (with prominent exceptions such as the research by William Cobern). More specifically this is the case concerning science education in Europe. Often worldview issues are instead raised mostly in relation to indigenous cultures, and to some extent in research focusing religious issues in relation to science education in western countries. However, also in secular countries such as Sweden, students' worldviews should be of interest for science educators. During the presentation I will, with the starting point in previous research by myself and colleagues, highlight the value of worldview perspectives on science education also in "secular" countries. Such a perspective could contribute to our understanding of what happens in the science classroom, and shed light on questions such as why some students have difficulties understanding science (while others have not), and why some students are uninterested in science (and others view science as very much for them). Implications for science education - research and practice - will be raised. E.g. it will be suggested that worldview presuppositions should be discussed in science class as part of other nature of science perspectives.

It has long been argued that nature of science (NOS) is an important part of science teaching. In the literature, many different approaches to NOS have been suggested. This article focuses on a storytelling approach, and builds on data from audio recordings from three middle-school (school year 6) classrooms. The three science classes are run by three science teachers who have been introduced to NOS and storytelling during a oneday workshop. These three teachers chose to tell the students a story about Ernest Rutherford. The stories told by the teachers, as well as the whole-class discussions afterwards, are analysed with respect to what NOS aspects were communicated. The results show that many different NOS aspects, such as the tentative nature of scientific models, empirical aspects of the scientific knowledge process, as well as human aspects of science, emerge in the context of the story about Rutherford and his work on the atomic model. The results indicate promising possibilities for storytelling as an approach to NOS teaching.

The aim of this three-year study is to further contribute to the understanding of how relations between Reality – Theoretical models – Mathematics are communicated in different kinds of instructional situations (lectures, problem solving and labwork) in Swedish upper-secondary physics. A developed analytical framework from the pilot (Authors, 2015; 2019) is used to focus the analysis of the classroom communication on relations made (by teachers and students) between Reality – Theoretical models – Mathematics. The framework, results from an online survey to Swedish upper-secondary teachers on views of physics, mathematics and physics teaching, and results from classroom studies at upper secondary school during 2018 will be reported and discussed at the conference.

This chapter describes a case study of the role of mathematics in physics textbooks and in associated teacher led lessons. The theoretical framework (Hansson et al. 2015) used in the analysis focuses on relations communicated between three entities: Theoretical models, Mathematics, and Reality. Previously the framework has been used for analysing classroom situations. In this chapter, the framework is further developed and refined, and for the first time used to analyse physics textbooks. The case study described here is a synchronised analysis of a physics textbook and associated classroom communication during teacher led lessons, and contributes with an in-depth description of relations made between Theoretical models, Mathematicsand Reality. With the starting point in this case we discuss future uses of the analysis framework. We also raise questions for further research concerning how physics textbooks support and not support a meaningful physics teaching with respect to the role of mathematics and how relations between Theoretical models, Mathematics, and Reality are communicated.

This article discusses the role of mathematics during physics lessons in upper-secondary school. Mathematics is an inherent part of theoretical models in physics and makes powerful predictions of natural phenomena possible. Ability to use both theoretical models and mathematics is central in physics. This paper takes as a starting point that the relations made during physics lessons between the three entities Reality, Theoretical models and Mathematics are of the outmost importance. A framework has been developed to sustain analyses of the communication during physics lessons. The study described in this article has explored the role of mathematics for physics teaching and learning in upper-secondary school during different kinds of physics lessons (lectures, problem solving and labwork). Observations are from three physics classes (in total 7 lessons) led by one teacher. The developed analytical framework is described together with results from the analysis of the 7 lessons. The results show that there are some relations made by students and teacher between theoretical models and reality, but the bulk of the discussion in the classroom is concerning the relation between theoretical models and mathematics. The results reported on here indicate that this also holds true for all the investigated organisational forms lectures, problem solving in groups and labwork.

This study adds to research on the use of mathematics in physics classrooms at upper secondary school. The aim is to look closer into what types of transfer do the teacher and textbook set up for the pupils with respect to ways of reasoning from other physics contexts as well as from mathematics. The frame for analysis is an analytical model based on relations made between Reality, Theoretical models and Mathematics (Redfors, Hansson, Hansson & Juter, 2016). Horizontal and vertical transfer is defined as mappings of new information to an activated known structure and as the creation of a new structure in the learner’s mind, respectively (Rebello, Cui, Benett, Zollman & Ozimek, 2007). Transfer occurs within mathematics and physics and also between the topics.We will focus on a physics lecture (40 min, video recorded) in a 3rd year class. When reasoning movement of charged particles in electric fields the teacher stresses hori- zontal transfer from mechanics and projectile motion. The procedure used is focused on analysing movement in “x direction” and “y direction” separately, not explicitly relating movement to the field direction. Whereas the argumentation in the textbook is based on movement in relation to the existence of a field direction. When considering velocity, the main focus is in both cases on a framework where the components of velocity is central.The tangent of a curve is a notion the students in the present study are quite familiar with from their courses in mathematics, which makes an opportunity for transfer from a mathematics context to help understanding physics. However, the notion of tangent is not used in the textbook or by the teacher in relation to velocity. Using the vector concept in this way would require students and teachers to perform a vertical transfer. This has been shown hard for both students and teachers. However, introducing this way of reasoning had made use of an opportunity for structural use of mathematics – an opportunity overlooked by both teacher and textbook.

35.

Hansson, Lena

et al.

Kristianstad University, Research environment Learning in Science and Mathematics (LISMA). Kristianstad University, School of Education and Environment, Avdelningen för Naturvetenskap.

Leden, Lotta

Kristianstad University, Research environment Learning in Science and Mathematics (LISMA). Kristianstad University, School of Education and Environment, Avdelningen för Naturvetenskap.

In the science education research field there is a large body of literature on the 'nature of science' (NOS). NOS captures issues about what characterizes the research process as well as the scientific knowledge. Here we, in line with a broad body of literature, use a wide definition of NOS including also e.g. socio-cultural aspects. It is argued that NOS issues, for a number of reasons, should be included in the teaching of science/physics. Research shows that NOS should be taught explicitly. There are plenty of suggestions on specific and separate NOS activities, but the necessity of discussing NOS issues in connection to specific science/physics content and to laboratory work, is also highlighted. In this article we draw on this body of literature on NOS and science teaching, and discuss how classroom situations in secondary physics classes could be turned into NOS-learning situations. The discussed situations have been suggested by secondary teachers, during in-service teacher training, as situations from every-day physics teaching, from which NOS could be highlighted.

Can contemporary science have a role in the classroom? While many students find contemporary science exciting, they often view school science as boring and uninteresting. Most of the physics taught in school was developed over a century ago and can be seen as well-established consensus science. Including discussions on contemporary research is one way to increase interest and motivation, and is also a way to provide students with possibilities to learn what research today could look like. It is also one way to teach general nature of science (NOS) perspectives, which have been argued to be important for many different reasons. In this presentation we will describe how a group of science teachers developed and implemented teaching sequences focusing on contemporary physics during in-service training. Each teacher chose a research area, interviewed a researcher, and wrote a popular science article aimed at secondary students (13-15 years old). Finally they designed, implemented and evaluated a teaching unit built around the popular science article. During the presentation we will describe the teachers’ experiences, the resources developed by them, and the kind of NOS perspectives included by the teachers.